This custom of tightly girthing is not confined to those animals which are used for the saddle, but is also practised on those that are used as pack-oxen; the loose skin rendering the packages liable to slip off the animal’s back. The whole process of girthing the ox is a very curious one. A sturdy Kaffir stands at each side, while another holds the ox firmly by a stick passed through its nostrils. The skins or cloths are then laid on the back of the ox, and the long rope thrown over them. One man retains his hold of one end, while the other passes the rope round the animal’s body. Each man takes firm hold of the rope, puts one foot against the ox’s side, by way of a fulcrum, and then hauls away with the full force of his body. Holding his own part of the rope tightly with one hand, the second Kaffir dexterously throws the end under the animal to his comrade, who catches it, and passes it over the back, when it is seized as before. Another hauling-match now takes place, and the process goes on until the cord is exhausted, and the diameter of the ox notably diminished. In spite of the enormous pressure to which it is subject, the beast seems to care little about it, and walks away as if unconcerned. If the journey is a long one, the ropes are generally tightened once or twice, the native drivers seeming to take a strange pleasure in the operation.

The illustration [No. 1], on page 73, shows the manner in which the Kaffir employs the ox for riding and pack purposes. A chief is returning with his triumphant soldiers from a successful expedition against an enemy’s kraal, which they have “eaten up,” as their saying is. In the foreground is seen the chief, fat and pursy, dressed in the full paraphernalia of war, and seated on an ox. A hornless ox is generally chosen for the saddle, in order to avoid the danger of the rider falling forward and wounding himself; but sometimes the Kaffir qualifies an ox for saddle purposes by forcing the horns to grow downward, and in many instances contrives to make the horns flap about quite loosely, as if they were only suspended by thongs from the animal’s head. The soldiers are seen in charge of other oxen, laden with the spoils of the captured kraal, to which they have set fire; and in the middle distance, a couple of men are reloading a refractory ox, and drawing the rope tightly round it, to prevent it from shaking off its load a second time.

(1.) KAFFIR CATTLE—TRAINING THE HORNS.
(See [page 70].)

(2.) RETURN OF A WAR PARTY.
(See [page 72].)

CHAPTER IX.
MARRIAGE.

POLYGAMY PRACTISED AMONG THE KAFFIRS — GOZA AND HIS WIVES — NUMBER OF A KING’S HAREM — TCHAKA, THE BACHELOR KING — THE KING AND HIS SUCCESSORS — A BARBAROUS CUSTOM — CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF POLYGAMY AMONG THE KAFFIRS — DOMESTIC LIFE AND ITS CUSTOMS — THE VARIED DUTIES OF A WIFE — ANECDOTE OF A KAFFIR HUSBAND — JEALOUSY AND ITS EFFECTS — A FAVORITE WIFE MURDERED BY HER COMPANIONS — MINOR QUARRELS, AND SUMMARY JUSTICE — THE FIRST WIFE AND HER PRIVILEGES — MINUTE CODE OF LAWS — THE LAW OF INHERITANCE AND PRIMOGENITURE — THE MASTERSHIP OF THE KRAAL — PROTECTION TO THE ORPHAN — GUARDIANS, THEIR DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES — PRELIMINARIES TO MARRIAGE — KAFFIR COURTSHIP — THE BRIDEGROOM ON APPROVAL — AN UNWILLING CELIBATE — A KAFFIR LOVE TALE — UZINTO AND HER ADVENTURES — REWARD OF PERSEVERANCE.

Contrary to general opinion, marriage is quite as important a matter among the Kaffirs as with ourselves, and even though the men who can afford it do not content themselves with one wife, there is as much ceremony in the last marriage as in the first. As to the number of wives, no law on that subject is found in the minute, though necessarily traditional, code of laws, by which the Kaffirs regulate their domestic polity. A man may take just as many wives as he can afford, and the richer a man is, the more wives he has as a general rule. An ordinary man has generally to be content with one, while those of higher rank have the number of wives dependent on their wealth and position. Goza, for example, whose portrait is given on [page 117] and who is a powerful chief, has a dozen or two of wives. There is now before me a photograph representing a whole row of his wives, all sitting on their heels, in the attitude adopted by Kaffir women, and all looking rather surprised at the photographer’s operations. In our sense of the word, none of them have the least pretence to beauty, whatever may have been the case when they were young girls, but it is evident that their joint husband was satisfied with their charms, or they would not retain a position in his household.